At the end he produced an envelope from the ceiling, which I had to open and read out. It had all the answers that people had given him throughout the performance. I was sitting next to a trainee magician and he did not know how that one had been done. That was good finale piece to end on.
Today I arranged to cycle into town and see an old friend- Ian Smith. Ian had been a town planner in Lewisham where I spent my year out there when I was doing my planning degree. That was nearly 40 years ago. He worked for a while in the Edinburgh planning department but has now retired. His passions are climbing Munroes and doing archaeology, particularly Roman archaeology and has tried to get a book published about Boudicca. Towards the end of the period when the Romans were trying to make inroads into Scotland and before they retreated to Hadrian's Wall, the Roman navy sailed around the top of Scotland. This is all well documented, but there are gaps in their route, particularly as they came though the western Isles. We conjectured what they would have known about places like the Corryvrekan and whether they went though it.
I also asked him about the 9th legion, which stories tell about it having gone missing in Scotland. There is currently a film about it on release. He said it didn't go missing at all. It got a bit of a battering by the Picts, but returned. In any case it seemed to have been a fourth division type legion and had lost battles all over the place. It was eventually decommissioned probably as a bit of military image improvement spin at the time
.Ian's apartment is in a block which has a very French feel about it with its central spiral stone staircase and large light well.It was good to meet up with him after about 6 years. As you always do we vowed to make it not so long next time.
As planners we talked about the quality of control of development in Ireland. We seemed to share a view about whether it is sustainable to try and keep alive all those tiny ex fishing communities. In Roman times if the fishing was poor they'd have just picked up their houses and moved to where things were better. Because we have invested so much in property such an approach would be unthinkable now.
Ian had other visitors in the evening so we went our separate ways after lunch. I was very tempted to go and see Greg Allman, who was performing in the evening. I had liked the Allman Brothers band way back but I'm now having to think about the expense of the trip.
The weather is pinning me down in Edinburgh, but seems to be teasing me.The strong south easterly that were forecast do not seem to have arrived.This tempts me to set out, but then rain has arrived complete with thunder storms. Nobody wants to be out with lightening around if they can avoid it. Kelvin emailed me to say he had not reached Eyemouth because of the wind and had to go into Dunbar instead. He was having to dry out against a harbour wall and it wasn't ideal.
The brooding skies add to the drama of the already imposing Edinburgh Castle.
On the way back to the boat I was struck by a large painting on the gable of a building. it seemed to depict the history of life in Leith.- especially the ship building. The royal yacht Britannia is now moored here permanently and is open to the public, but there seems littlem other evidence of large boats. Another thing I shall remember about the place is the painting I saw in the town centre gallery of the Leith races. This showed horse racing on the sands at low tide and all the stuff that was going on around it. it was done by a lesser known Scot. I would have taken a photo of it but they can get very sniffy about this even if you don't use flash. The picture had such life and vitality.
It still does not look like I shall be able to move on tomorrow, but I shall be studying the conditions carefully.The trip now looks like this.
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